The present invention relates to recycling systems, and in particular to apparatus and method for bailing newspapers so that they can easily be transported for recycling.
The increasing need for recycling paper and other materials to minimize the depletion of raw material resources is becoming more and more apparent. The depletion of natural timber resources, particularly for papre products and especially for newsprint, is rapidly becoming a critical problem. One of the obvious solutions to this problem is to recycle newspapers so that the newsprint is reused rather than continuously exhausting raw timber resources.
In the past, two problems have hindered the widespread acceptance of recycling newpapers. The first problem was that the monetary value of the recycled newspapers on a per ton basis was relatively small so that the expenses of collecting the newspapers outweighed the value. Economically feasible collection of the newspapers could only be performed by volunteer organizations, such as boy scout troops and the like. The other problem was that of the inconvenience of tying up bundles of newspapers and was sufficient to hinder the collection of the newspapers unless a secondary motivation such as charity were provided. The newspapers must be bundled and collected relatively frequently since large collections of loose newspapers present a fire hazard and may violate local fire regulations.
The recent increase in the value of raw newsprint has virtually eliminated the first problem mentioned above, and it is now becoming economically feasible and attractive to collect newspapers for recycling. Pilot programs have been initiated to determine whether the public is willing to accommodate newspaper recycling and accept the minor inconveniences involved in collecting and bundling the newspapers for periodic collection. These pilot programs have shown limited success, and the unwillingness of the public to put up with minor inconveniences such as bundling newspapers has proven to be difficult to overcome. Since used newspapers must be disposed by the consumer anyway, it would appear that a collection system which was no more inconvenient than normal trash disposal would avoid this public antipathy and render widespread recycling a feasible concept.